30-day opera

Inspired by the 30-Day Opera Challenge done by Austin Lyric Opera, the staff at Edmonton Opera have taken on a 30-question challenge of their own. Each week, we'll post answers from staff members about various aspects of opera, whether it's their favourite aria, an opera house they'd like to visit, or an open-ended question about what they would do if they could conduct, direct, sing, etc., an opera.We welcome your comments with your own opinion on the question, either in the comments or via social media.

Week 21:

What's your most memorable opera experience?

Ha Neul Kim, company and stage manager: Bluebeard's Castle and Erwartung — Robert LePage's productions. We did this with his assistant a while ago, and it was such a cool concept.

Cameron MacRae, creative manager: My most memorable opera experience was my first visit to the Opera national de Paris at the Bastille. I had the chance to see Janacek's Makropulos Affair, directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski. The staging and design made allusions to Hollywood, and the brilliant soprano Angela Denoke played the leading role of Emilia Marty. In one scene she wore a Marilyn Monroe-inspired dress complete with updraft, and later carried onstage by a 10-metre tall King Kong bust.

Rebecca Anderson, box office supervisor: I spent some time in Europe just after high school and decided last minute to go to the opera in Vienna. It was a performance of Salome and as a student of German I confess I was a bit confused.

On Twitter, it was nice that users named a couple Edmonton Opera productions as most memorable — the 1974 production of Carmen was one user's first introduction to opera, while more recently, Tales of Hoffmann was another's most memorable opera experience. Photographer Nanc Price named her backstage experience shooting Eugene Onegin as most memorable, and we can certainly understand that — it's a chance that not a lot of people get! Someone else also named the 2007 Met production of Lucia di Lammermoor as most memorable ("I've signed my death warrant" — ink appeared as blood).